For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

This week is the 85^th anniversary of Kristallnacht. We all thought that this was something that occurred in the past. To our shock, it is back. This past week in Austria, almost to the day, the ceremonial hall in the Jewish cemetery in Vienna was torched, as it was 85 years ago. There were Nazi symbols left on the building. As I have said in the past, the far right and the far left might not agree on much, but they do agree on hating Jews.

The pain of seeing what has happened to our Israeli brethren has not subsided. I can only imagine the pain and anguish and fear that those in Israel are going through. It feels like a mass shivah. The media, including CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, have broadcasted one horror story after another. In two instances, the person being interviewed, including the father of an eight-year-old girl, said that it was better to hear that their child was killed than taken captive by Hamas. This shocked the interviewers. I learned that the Talmud says that being held as a captive is worse than being killed.

Last week, I wrote about the attack by those on the left against Israel and their engagement in anti-Semitic conduct. This week, I will address those on the right whose beliefs could be dangerous. There are the white nationalists whom we are all aware of. They famously marched in Charlottesville with torches, chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” It reminded me of the Nazi marches in the 1930s. What I am more concerned about is the America First crowd, which are part of MAGA.  There have always been individuals who are against using American funds to support foreign countries. The most notable has been Senator Rand Paul. What has been slowly occurring is that it is spreading. Now a candidate for president, Vivek Ramaswamy, who has taken up this approach. I worry that funding for Israel could be at risk.

In my last column before Sukkos, I addressed the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of the Yom Kippur War. I did not expect that fifty years later I would be writing about another war against Israel. It appears I was not the only one who was surprised. Just like 50 years ago, it appears that Israel was unprepared for this attack. An Israeli spokesman compared it to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. There were also other parallels. The attack was started on a special day in the Jewish calendar. In 1973 it was Yom Kippur and this time it was Shemini Atzeres. The Yom Kippur War started on October 6 and this war started on October 7.

Before I get to the main part of my column, I want to give an update as to how my guinea pigs, Squirrel and Squeaky, are getting along. Before Chol HaMoed Sukkos, I tried to put them together in the same cage. It didn’t work the first time since Squeaky was attacking Squirrel. But my wife wanted the second cage gone ASAP (read: before Simchas Torah) so I tried a new tactic during Chol HaMoed when I put them together again and it worked. Although they have their moments, they are getting along.

This year, Yom Kippur was from Sunday night through Monday night. That had an impact on what I am writing about, due to the deadline to submit an article for my column. Therefore, most of the column was written before the holiday when I was in Yom Kippur mode.